Sheikhs and Souks

My immediate impression of Dubai was that it was very much like Houston, probably due to the climate, huge cars and modernity.

Although the summer is over, it was still 40+ degrees and very humid (85% humidity the day before I arrived). In Dubai you are constantly in an airconditioned bubble, cars/malls/etc, and i don't think i spent more than 30 seconds out of doors. Of course resulting in a sore throat within 20 minutes of arriving.

I stayed with some very nice people, Lee, David, Oscar and their dog Felix von Slobberlicker. Lee knew Dubai really well and drove around showing me all the sights, we even got to drive onto the palm jumeirah. The amount of construction going on is phenomenanal, there are thousands and thousands of cranes and enormous, new, shiny skyscrapers everywhere. There are also thousands of immigrant slave labourers, getting paid less than 50 pounds a month and living in cramped camps in the desert, which takes the edge off all the glam and glitz of the place.

My highlights were seeing the race camels and visiting the old part of Dubai to the spice and gold souks. The camels are treated as well as any thouroughbred race horse, and when they are racing (later in the year) go incredibly fast. The old part of the city was completely different from the rest, we had to get a little water taxi across the creek to the Deira part of Dubai. The smell from the Dhow's full of spices was worth inventing smellovision for. Unfortunately because of Ramadan it wasn't as busy as usual, but the atmosphere was still great. I didn't do any shopping due to lack of space, and that fake marc jacobs handbags and huge gold necklaces aren't really practical in mozambique. I did buy a lovely pashmina for 2.50 though.

I would go back to Dubai, but only if i was passing through. It's a strange place, I didn't see many Arabs there and if i didn't have someone who knew the place who was willing to drive me around, I don't think I would have had such an enjoyable time.